Accidental Recordings
by White Fairy Writer
Summary: Miko overhears something she shouldn't have heard, and a rift pulls her Jack, and Raf away from the Autobots. A few friends and portals later, Miko might learn there's always something more to the story.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own anything related to Transformers. I am writing this once so take notice _NOW!_**

Miko tapped her pencil sighing. School was such a bore. She should be out kicking 'cons butts with Bulk! Not taking some stupid test that she would invariably fail. She turned to look at one of her best friends on the North American continent, Jack. He was finishing his test studiously, he actually cared about his grade, and then Miko turned to look at the wiz kid who was already in high school although he was barely 13. Both Jack and the wiz kid Raf were her bestest of friends, and if it wasn't for the autobots she never would have met such awesome friends.

"Time's up, everybody put your pencils down!" The teacher called sharply, and hurriedly Miko finished the last of her questions. "Miss Nakadai, I said pencils down." Our wonderful history teacher Mrs. Won said annoyed and I found her standing behind me with a glare in her eyes.

"But Mrs. Won, I thought you wanted me to do my best, and I had the answer on the tip of my tongue and I just couldn't get it out. And then I remembered! And I wanted to show you so badly I knew your country's history. And- and I didn't understand what you had said. I- I don't fully understand your language, I heard you, but- but I- I- I just couldn't understand what you were saying." Miko defended herself in a rush, playing the confused exchange student card. It worked on almost all her teachers, and just pulling up some fake tears tended to do the trick.

"Well- well just pay more attention next time." Mrs. Won said, clearly taken aback by the little Japanese girl's sudden mood swing. "Please finish the question and hand in your paper Miss Nakadai." The teacher said, walking back to her desk. The minute her teacher's back was turned Miko broke into a smile. America could sure be fun. She thought grinning. Across the room Jack just shook his head and up front Raf just rolled his eyes. If they knew anything, they knew how easily Miko got away with things. Miko finished her paper and handed it up front. With a fake relieved look she headed toward her teacher.

"Thank you _so_ much Mrs. Won, you don't know how much this means to me." Miko said in a rush.

"Just pay more attention next time. OK?" Mrs. Won said with sympathy.

"I will, oh I will." Miko replied, with evident relief on her face. Miko heard the bell and ran out the door smiling. "I love that bell." She told Jack and Raf who had rushed to catch up to her. "The last bell, I can't wait to get out of here!" She smiled, stretching as she pulled her bag out of her locker.

"I bet you do." Raf laughed. "I just don't understand why you don't enjoy school, it is a wonderful thing! Today we were talking about the theory of-"

"I don't really care Raf." Miko said impatiently, not seeing her friend's crumpled face. "But guess what? Metal Death is coming here! To Jasper for a concert! I can't believe it, I am so excited! I just have to wait to get those tickets. I hate waiting." She grumbled.

"Let's get out of here." Jack interrupted, closing his locker. "I can see Arcee outside."

"Yes! Bulk and I will so beat you two back." Miko laughed, slamming her locker and racing outside. Bulkhead opened the door for her and Miko clambered in.

"Hey, Miko. How was school?" The bot asked shutting the door.

"It was great." She replied distractedly, seeing Jack and Raf get into their vehicles. "Just go, go!" She exclaimed, and her protector hit the gas and the two sped ahead of her friends. Miko held onto her seat as the two hit the road, laughing till they hit the desert. "We are so going to beat them!" She laughed.


	2. Another day at the base

Bulkhead pulled into the base before Arcee or Bumblebee, giving Miko a reason to shout for joy.

"I totally told you!" She smirked as Jack got off Arcee.

"You got a head start." Raf complained as he hopped out of his ride. Bumblebee emitted a short burst of beeps and clicks, and Miko just stood there with a "Well?" look on her face. "He said we'll beat you next time." Raf translated with a smile as the 'bots transformed, the sigh of metal changing over metal echoing in the cavernous space of the base.

"Count me out." Arcee decided as she walked toward Ratchet.

"So, what do you want to do, Bulk?" Miko asked eagerly, but her protector simply sighed.

"I have reconnaissance, sorry. But maybe later." The 'bot replied, heading toward Arcee and Ratchet.

"Yeah, later." Miko said half halfheartedly. "What about you two?" Miko asked again of her friends, but they were already video gaming. "Oh well." she sighed heading up he stairs and plopping in a chair. Optimus entered the room and Miko turned eagerly toward the Autobots leader. All red and blue, Optimus reminded her of Superman. He was always saving the day, he was the Cybertronian Superman. With that decided she leaned back into her chair to stare blankly into space.

"Optimus, look at these readings." Ratchet's voice broke in and Miko got up eagerly to stare at the screen. Maybe some 'cons were attacking, she thought. Miko hadn't taken a single picture in what felt like forever, she could practically hear her cell crying to be used. Where were those stupid 'cons? When she didn't want them they were there, but when she wanted them they were no where! Where's the justice in all that?

"A route to be taken another day, old friend." Optimus's voice rumbled calmly. "But for now, children!" He called. The boys reluctantly paused their game and came to stand beside Miko at the railing. "I wish to speak with my comrades for a moment, could you please leave this area for a short time? Explore the base if you wish."

"Um, OK Optimus." Jack replied for the group. Raf quickly ran down the stairs and disappeared into a hallway. "Miko, come on." Jack sighed, waiting at the base of the stairs for Miko to hurry up. The Japanese girl was fiddling with her phone and taking her sweet time. _That_ wasn't unusual. "Miko." Jack's voice warned.

"Comin', I'm comin'." Miko replied exasperated, putting her phone down on a table. Smiling brightly Miko raced down the stairs and ran to find Raf. "Jack, you are such a slow poke!" Miko's voiced whined, and sighing Jack followed his friends into the hallways. Sometimes, he wondered if he was the only mature one in the group. Probably was too. The minute all three were out of the main area of the base, Optimus lowered every door and locked it too. For the moment, all three humans were locked out of the main headquarters but they weren't worried. After Optimus said whatever he wanted to they would be welcomed back with open arms. The three started walking side by side lost in their own thoughts. But Miko, being Miko, didn't really know how to be quiet. "So what do you think they're talking about?" She asked excitedly.

"Probably on something that will keep you from tagging along whenever they go to fight the Decepticons." Jack replied thoughtfully.

"Hey!"

"Maybe it's nothing we need to worry about." Raf thought aloud. "Just something boring and mundane."

"'Boring and mundane'? Who talks like that? Sorry Raf, but I like the little words. Boring works. Something boring or ordinary. You're right Raf." She decided.

"'Ordinary' is a long word." Jack pointed out.

"Oh, will you just shut up?" The three continued walking in silence. It wasn't a bad silence, it just bored Miko to no end. "So, what's been going on?" She asked her friends.

"Not much. We're at the base so much you know everything we do." Jack replied.

"Well, then what about before all this? What had happened?" Miko tried again.

"You must be really bored." Jack observed.

"Not bored, I just really want to know what they're saying!" Miko cried, hopping from foot to foot in anticipation.

"I thought you had agreed it was nothing to worry about." Raf said.

"Well, how do we really know?" Miko asked eagerly. "It could be something, it could be nothing. But I just need to know."

"Well, I don't think you ever will." Raf said thoughtfully gazing ahead.

"Hm, you really have no faith in me. Why do you think I would let one little secret like this go by without me finding out?" Miko asked mischievously.

"Bulkhead won't tell you." Jack warned.

"I don't always need Bulk, I have my phone, remember?" Miko laughed.

"Your phone? What has that got to do with anything?" Raf asked confused.

"You'll see." Miko grinned.

"Miko." Jack began, knowing she was up to something. That one word made the girl roll her eyes. She had gotten to know Jack, and in that one word there was the promise of his curbing her activities and keeping her from something everyone knew she shouldn't do but what she was going to do anyway.

"Have faith, dear Jack." She laughed. "I'll even tell you what I find." She promised with a secretive smile. The two boys shared a look. Why couldn't Miko ever just listen to them?


	3. Chapter 3

After about thirty minutes of endless wandering Jack heard one of the Autobots calling us back and with a grin from Miko we all raced back.

"What do you think they were talking about?" Miko asked, running ahead of her friends.

"I thought we went over this." Jack groaned. "Absolutely nothing, OK? They might have been talking about the weather back on Cybertron! Why do you think there's anything important going on anyway?"

"Because." Began Miko impatiently, skidding to a stop and having Jack and Raf fly by her. She turned to face them, anticipation and excitement burning from her eyes. "Why would Optimus have banished us from the room if it was a wonderful talk about the weather on Cybertron?"

"He didn't banish us." Raf spoke up hesitantly. Both boys knew once Miko got an idea it was the end of everything. Whatever she thought was the truth, and her crazy ideas were the reason they were always finding themselves in dangerous situations.

"I think it's something important, something they don't want me to know. Or you or Raf for that matter." Miko continued thoughtfully. "I just got to know what."

"Miko, can you just let it go? Please? If you don't I'll make sure you never get to that Death Metal concert." Jack warned her.

"You wouldn't dare." Miko gasped, something as precious as her concert making her rethink the whole idea. But then it was gone. "You wouldn't dare." She repeated with a laugh and continued walking. The boys just sighed. She never listened. They quickly ran to catch up with their wayward friend.

"I am sorry for making you leave, I had to speak with my comrades. But please, continue with whatever you were doing before my interruption." Miko quickly ran up the stairs and went to grab her phone.

"Dead!" Miko exclaimed. "This is so not fair! It's dead." She sighed, putting her phone in a pocket.

"So? Just charge it." Raf proposed, hopping on the couch and handing Jack the other remote.

"Not here." Miko shook her head. "Later." She said, that mischievous smile growing on her face.


	4. The not so Accidental Recording

"Come on Jack!" Arcee called impatiently, waiting for her human partner. "You'll be late for school, and I promised your mom I would take you to school safely." Her partner quickly swung his bag over a shoulder and got on biting a piece of toast.

"It's like she thinks some Decepticon will be attacking Jasper at any moment. She lives in Jasper, there's absolutely nothing here!" Jack mumbled swallowing his toast and Arcee headed out. The motorcycle quickly zipped in and out of traffic only slowing down when a beep echoed from her com-link.

"What is it now Bulkhead?" She asked answering her fellow bot's call.

"It's Miko, she wasn't at her house when I came to pick her up. It's strange, she's never late when I come to pick her up." The big bot's voice said strangely.

"Maybe she took the bus." Arcee replied not perturbed.

"Not without telling me she wouldn't. It's just weird, this isn't like Miko." Bulkhead said upset.

"Calm down, Bulk. I'm sure she's fine." Arcee told him calmly. The Autobot quickly pulled up to the school's side walk.

"She right there!" Jack pointed, looking toward the stairs.

"Whew, I'm glad she's OK. Optimus would have my circuits if she wasn't. Tell her I said 'hey', OK Jack?" Bulkhead sighed in relief.

"Course." Jack replied preoccupied, getting off the bike and making sure he had all his papers. Mrs. Won's huge spring final report was due today, and if he didn't have it she would probably kill him.

Or at least Detention him til he was 30 and have given him and 3 million paged report on the effects of late papers.

Jack shuddered at the thought. That was a horror of an idea, and it made him want to run and hide. Which was a pretty weird feeling for him. Standing up against a Decepticon? No problem, but standing up against Mrs. Won? Jack just shuddered again. He ran up the stairs into the school as the waning bell rang and the final one rang as Jack slid into his seat. Across the room Miko sat unmoving, her eyes down with shock covering her face. Her mouth was open as if she had been told her parents where dead, and her always cheerful attitude was clouded in shell shock horror and dismay. Her smile was nowhere to be seen, and she sat as still as if she had been slapped. Jack turned to look at Raf, who was also staring at the strangely quiet fireball. Raf just shrugged when he saw Jack looking at him.

"Now class, toady we will be studying micrograms and micro graphs." The teacher began, but that was all Jack or Raf heard as they turned their attentions back on Miko. Something was wrong, but what? And when? Or how? "Mr. Darby, if you would stop making goo goo eyes at Miko could you please tell me the definition of micrograph?" The home room teacher Mr. Stet broke in. Jack turned to look up front.

"Yes sir, it is a drawing or photographic reproduction of an object as viewed through a microscope. Micro graphs are also used as instruments used to make tiny writings or engravings." Jack recited easily.

"Well, you at least know the material." Mr. Stet allowed, and moved on with his questions. The rest of the day Miko acted as if in a daze. She spoke only when spoken to, no retorts at all, and managed to go a whole day without earning a single detention from any teacher, or even the lunch lady for that matter. The two had some rivalry, but that wasn't important. For the teachers, today was the best day ever. For the student body, an uneasy one. Each student knew something was wrong. _Way _wrong. For Miko to turn into a zombie, something must have gone terribly, _terribly_ wrong. When the final bell rang, even the school lovers were out the door before Miko had even stood up to gather her things. Something was wrong, and an uneasy feeling had developed in the boys' guts.

"Miko." Jack began, but Miko clouded eyes didn't even register him being there. "Miko." He repeated more forcefully. The girl turned her head slowly.

"Jack?" She asked uncertain.

"Why don't you sit down?" Raf invited gently. The Japenese girl took a seat, still in her little daze.

"Why don't you tell us what happened?" Jack asked patiently. Miko looked at him, her eyes glazed over. Pain was locked in their depth, and Jack had to look down. For Miko to be in emotional pain, it had to be bad. "Bulkhead told me to tell you 'hey'." He told her, hoping the mention of the Autobot would cheer her up. Instead, she flinched at his name.

"Remember how I wanted to know what they said? Why didn't you stop me? Why?" Miko's usually bright voice was now dull and lifeless, no happiness could be heard at all.

"We tried." Raf sighed. Miko pulled out her phone and pressed some buttons.

"I found out my phone can record things, so when Optimus sent us out I made sure to record whatever they said. It died before they finished, but my phone has an automatic save thing so if my phone dies or shorts unexpectantly whatever I was doing was saved and not lost. So my recording file was still saved. I only had what they were saying until it died, but it was enough." Her voice still hollow, her eyes still glazed, with a slow movement she pressed the play button. First, only sounds of the bots moving and Optimus lowering the doors and the click of a lock being used could be heard, and then silence. Pure utter silence, and then Optimus spoke.

"I would like to continue the tradition of Si Cron." He began. "The children-"

"Are utterly useless and annoying!" Ratchet's voice exploded suddenly. Whatever Si Cron was, it was now obvious Optimus wouldn't be continuing it. "Those humans are always in my space and taking up my time. I always feel like my circuits will implode with them around!" Ratchet's voiced feeling were something the three children knew, but never thought he'd say.

"Just wait, it gets better." Miko said, a mock smile hanging bitterly on her face.

"Miko is always forcing me do things I _don't_ want to do. And it's always monster marathons with her! And if not some human movie marathon or other it's her heavy metal music! It always has to be her way, and never gives me a single say in the matter!" Bulkhead's voice broke in.

"Tell me about it." Arcee huffed. "Jack always treats me like his wing woman. He just had to impress that girl, and I get he's my partner now, but he's always in my space!"

"I think its a human thing." Ratchet agreed.

"Now, Jack isn't as bad as Miko. She's the reason we're battling 'cons half the time. But Jack, he's just so- there's no word for it." Arcee continued. "Thery're useless." Clicks and beeps were emitted and Miko and Jack turned to Raf to translate. The younger boy's face fell in shock.

"He said all I ever want to do is play video games." Raf whispered. "And that I never speak up for myself and how it annoys him that I won't stand up for myself sometimes. It makes him want to stand up for me but it would be to bothersome. He said if I didn't stand up for myself and he did I would never learn and the cycle would continue indefinably. It bothers him. And he said I was...such a child." The three turned back to the recording afraid.

"It's just so difficult with them, they never care about about what we want half the time." Bulkhead's voice continued.

"That seems to be the human population's problem." Ratchet's voice agreed, sounding all wise and sure.

But they knew Optimus would stand up for them, he had to. He always did no matter what.

"That is all true." Optimus's voice said instead. "Things were much simple before the children came, but with them brought-" The recording suddenly clicked off.

"That's where it died." Miko said quietly. "I thought we were friends. I thought they- and I thought we- and- and-" Miko suddenly burst into tears. The two boys stared at the phone shocked. How could they?

"I thought we were friends." Jack repeated, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"Bumblebee...he always was there for me. But now..." Raf murmured.

"What do we do?" Miko asked bringing the group back to the main problem. "I don't think I'm ready to see Bulkhead yet. I walked to school so I wouldn't have to see him."

"I'm not ready either." Raf confessed.

"I'm, I'm not sure." Jack mumbled.

"Let's walk back to my host house. We can figure out what to do later." Miko decided a moment later, some color coming back into her cheeks after she had shared her secret.

"OK, just lets go out the back door. I can Bumblebee outside." Raf said quietly and the group turned apprehensively to peek out the window. Outside sat a harmless little motorcycle and two big cars. The group looked back at each other.

"Yeah, lets go find that door." Miko agreed. The 3 went to their lockers first, homework not sounding so bad then. Each shut their locker doors and met back at the seldom used back entrance, and together they exited the building, staying away from the open spaces so the Autobots wouldn't see them.

"I never thought I'd have to hide from Bumblebee, he was always there. But if he doesn't like to help me..." Raf trailed off in a whisper.

"I know." Jack murmured quietly, thinking of Arcee. _They're useless. _Her words echoed in his mind, over and over. "We're not useless, are we?" He asked, for the first time uncertain.

"Course not." Miko told them impatiently. "They just don't care enough to notice us."

"But, how could they not? Remember the time with the scraplets? Or when we found the Space Bridge algorithms and calculations?" Raf broke in.

"We are _so _helpful to them." Miko nodded, her usual personality coming back in waves. "And if they don't care about me, then I certainly don't care about them!" Her voice broke at the end, and they all knew she cared, she cared a lot. They reached Miko's host house and the three entered. Two middle aged people sat sipping teas, and immediately paled upon seeing the little Japanese teen.

"Um, hello dear, we didn't expect you home so soon." The woman began.

"Yeah? Oh well, Hosties these are my friends Raf and Jack. I'm headed to my room, so later." Miko replied and the troop headed on. Upon entering her room the boys found hearts and rock metal bands covering the walls, unicorns and possibly a plan for world domination. Miko quickly tore it down. "Just some doodles." She chuckled nervously. "So, we need a plan." She continued in her authoritative voice. The group spent the afternoon planning, but really couldn't figure much out. Even the wiz kid was stumped. They could avoid the Autobots, drawing suspicion and throwing the heroes off their game in a decepticon fight and possibly allowing Magatron to take over. Or they could try to forget everything they'd heard, but that was impossible too. Whatever the answer was, they weren't going to figure it out today. The 3 sighed, this wasn't right. It wasn't fair!


	5. Chapter 5

Miko, Jack, and Raf stood facing the school doors with grim expectation. They had decided, after some debate, that they had to face the Autobots. So after walking to school _again_ and marching through their classes they all stood facing the big front doors with forbidding faces. Jaws were set in firm lines, eyes unwavering, backpacks on their backs. Taking a deep breath the group pushed the school doors open. Outside sat a docile motorcycle, a bright yellow camaro, and one big Hummer. The three cast nervous glances at each other, then walked slowly toward their respective vehicles.

"There you are Miko, I've been wondering where you've been!" Bulhead chuckled.

"Hm." Was the girl's short reply as she buckled up then turned to stare out the window. _How dare he! _Miko thought viciously. _Act so sweet and innocent when he said all that mean stuff about us! About ME! _

On the motorcycle Jack didn't say a word, just stared ahead and held on.

"Jack? You OK?" Arcee asked carefully.

"Fine." He muttered. _Useless. _He thought angrily. _I am NOT useless! _

"You sure? You seem a little-"

"Just drive, Arcee." He snapped.

"OK! You don't need to be that cold." Arcee muttered, pulling out.

Raf pulled himself into Bee carefully. He felt little and scared, Bee was his best friend and now...he wasn't. He stared at the floorboards wanting to cry. Bee chirped a few sounds and Raf looked up carefully.

"No, I didn't fail a test or anything." He replied slowly. Bee beeped a sentence Raf knew so well: Want to play a video game? "No, that's not all I like to do." He replied quickly, remembering the words Bee had said about him. "I like reading and walking and I like to go swimming too!" Bee chirped again, a simple "OK, OK!" and pulled out of the parking lot. The Autobots made little headway with their stubborn humans, each shut up and refused to speak.

"Miko, want to have a movie marathon?" Bulkhead asked after transforming back at the base.

"No. I wouldn't want to _force_ you to do something." Miko said bitterly, walking away head held high.

"Geez, what is wrong with her?" Arcee asked, a hand held lightly on her hip.

"Leave her alone." Jack warned following his friend into the labyrinth that was the hallways. Bee beeped and chirped and looked at his human confused.

"Just, Just leave us alone." Raf sighed, hurt on his face as he ran to catch up with the other 2 dissed humans.

"OK, someone just tell me what's going on here." Arcee asked the other two bots.

"Was it something I said?" Bulkhead asked confused.

"Perhaps they need a little space." Ratchet suggested wisely.

"But-"

"If they are in a mood allow them room to leave it and come back to us. At present, they are not happy with us for some unknown reason. Give the children some space, they will come around. I have read many earth books, and many say space is always helpful in these situations. Let the children know you are here for them and let them be."

"What book was that?" Arcee asked curious.

"A parenting book." Ratchet said wearily. "Human children are not like Cybertronian ones. It was exhausting putting up with them without being able to push them or reprimand them physically. They were just to small! Apparently, there is an easier way diplomatically. But I already knew that. Diplomacy works, give them what they want but ask for something in return."

"Wait, you read a _parenting _book? When has diplomacy ever worked with those earthlings?" Arcee exclaimed.

"You never know." Ratchet smiled and returned to his work. "Bumblebee, can you come help me for a moment?" He called, and a few seconds later the older bot exclaimed again: "Bumblebee, I needed that!"

Back in the hallways the 3 walked in silence. An occasional sigh could be heard, but for the most part there was silence.

"I don't want to be here." Miko finally declared aloud.

"The ride was quite awkward." Raf agreed.

"What are we going to do?" Jack sighed.

"The bots totally know we know. Or at least know something, because hello, when we start not being friends you kinda notice." Miko commented, looking at both friends.

"The wise words from Miss Miko Nakadai." Jack clapped.

"Thank you, thank you." Miko grinned giving a curtsy. "Oh, you're gonna make me cry!" She laughed making Raf laugh. "May I have this dance?" She asked Raf grinning, and the two began a funny looking tango/foxtrot-ish dance. Miko twirled the younger boy away from her and twirled herself toward Jack and laughed as they began the cha cha. "Come on Jack, that is the most pathetic cha cha I've eve seen!" Miko laughed, and began something the boys knew was a Japanese dance. She gave a curtsy and then sprinted down the hall and around the corner. "Catch me if you can!" Her voice floated back giggling. The boys knew she was acting childish, but in their situation they didn't care.

"Bet I can catch her before you." Raf dared.

"You're on." Jack nodded and the 2 raced after the fleeing Japanese. Her voice echoed in the cavernous room, and eventually when the two stopped they weren't even sure up was up with her voice floating around everywhere. "Miko?" Jack called, uncertain.

"Up here!" A voice laughed and the two looked up to see a certain Japanese sitting on a metal crossbar high above their heads. Wires curled around the bar and into the walls and fell to the floor, and among all the cables stood Miko waving. Their friend grabbed a cord and swung herself toward the next bar.

"No, Miko!" They screamed afraid for their daredevil friend. Amazingly, she got to the other side not electrocuted and haven not fallen to her death.

"Oh, you're such big babies! Climb up!" She shouted and swung back over to the original beam. Both boys glanced nervously at the cords and cables before grinning and clamoring up to the top. They took turns swinging across and then Miko swung down and raced off. That was the last time of fun for the rest of their time with the Autobots. Humans distrusted their robotic partners, and the confused Autobots tried to make amends failing tremendously and not even coming close to understanding why their friends were acting so distant and unusual.

"Optimus, there's a signal coming from the desert. I think it's a Decepticon signal!" Ratchet exclaimed a few weeks later.

"'I think?'" Arcee repeated. "You don't know?"

"Someone's jamming the signal, but there's enough coming through for me to correctly assume it is a Decepticon signal." Ratchet explained urgently.

"Decepticon?" Miko asked eagerly. She didn't like the Autobots right now, they had never apologized (how rude!), but Miko was a thrill seeker, and a Autobot 'con fight was always awesome to watch. The bots looked at each other unsure, but Ratchet's talk about Diplomacy flooded their minds. Give them what they want, but ask for something in return.

"You want to come?" Bulkhead asked a little unsure.

"Of course!" Miko exclaimed.

"You can come, _only_ if Jack and Raf come too." Arcee negotiated.

"They'll come." Miko answered immediately.

"The land bridge will transport you straight into the Sahara Desert." Ratchet told them and Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulhead, Miko, Jack, and Raf walked through. The heat of the sun burned down on the group, and the three humans quickly started sweating.

"It's miserable out here!" Miko complained.

"Remember, Decepticon fight." Raf reminded her pushing his hair back from his forehead.

"I can't wait!" Miko exclaimed racing ahead.

"Miko, get back here!" Bulkhead called. The girl froze and turned around coldly.

"You can't tell me what to do! You don't care, you never did!" She yelled at her protector. "And I always ask you what want. And Arcee, we're not useless! We do a lot of things, and you never notice anyway! And Bee, Raf does so much more than just play video games! He's so sweet, and does stand up for himself! You people are so mean! You're not even people! You're cold hard evil robot things! I- I hate you!" She yelled as tears streamed down her face. The Autobots froze upon hearing their own words thrown back at them, and suddenly a portal opened behind Miko, and another opened a few feet away from the first one. _Shadowzone_. Miko thought dumbly. She looked at the Autobots, who she couldn't stand, and her friends who looked at her alarmed.

"Don't!" Jack yelled.

"Miko!" The group yelled running toward her. Miko turned around and jumped into the portal as the two began to clash. A boom racked the desert and the group was left with one girl less.

"Miko!" They screamed again.

She was gone.

Miko was gone.


	6. You have some explaining to do

Miko was gone.

Just gone.

The 3 Autobots and 2 humans stared dumbly where the girl had once stood.

"Miko?" Bulkhead called uncertainly, just wanting to say her name, and having her answer. "Miko?"

"Bulk." Arcee said quietly, putting her hand on his shoulder in comfort. "You two." Arcee turned, staring at the humans with narrowed eyes. "You have some explaining to do."

"Ratchet, we need a ground bridge now." Bulkhead ordered into his com-link.

"Don't need to be grouchy." The order bot's voice grumbled, and a portal was opened for them to return home.

"Optimus, we need you in here!" Arcee yelled the moment they got through.

"Where's Miko?" Ratchet asked confused after counting heads.

"What's wrong, Arcee?" Optimus asked puzzled as he entered the room.

"The kids have some explaining to do." Arcee replied crossing her arms.

"Jack, Raf? Where's Miko?" Optimus asked slowly, also counting heads. The boys looked at each other uncertainly. "Boys." Optimus warned.

"Miko heard what you said." Jack finally said.

"Well, she recorded it." Raf corrected.

"Recorded what?" Arcee asked suspiciously.

"Well, remember when you sent us out of the room and locked down the doors a few weeks ago? Well, Miko left her phone in here and recorded everything." Raf explained.

"Not all of it, her phone died remember?" Jack commented.

"Oh yeah. But we heard enough." Raf sighed.

"Miko recorded our words from Si Cron?" Bulkhead asked surprised.

"All the things you said, it was horrible! It pushed Miko over the edge, it was so mean." Jack shook his head.

"And you know Miko flips over the littlest things, what did you think your words would have done? She looks up to you!" Raf added fiercely.

"How could you call us useless Arcee?" Jack asked his Autobot with a shake of his head.

"Jack, Miko recorded half the tradition of Si Cron." Optimus explained gently. Bumblebee beeped and chirped.

"Bee said what we heard was only the beginning, there was other stuff too." Raf told Jack quietly.

"What did you say that time? Call us boneheaded imbeciles?" Jack scoffed angrily.

"No, Jack. That is not the way of Si Cron." Optimus said calmly. And then he explained the Cybertronian tradition. The boys were shocked, but felt worse knowing Miko still thought Bulkhead and the bots hated her. They quickly went to send a portal and bring her back. Ratchet pushed his buttons and scanned his screen thoughtfully, then began to frown pressing more keys and pulling switches.

"No." They heard the bot mutter. "That can't be right. Did I press in the wrong calculations? No, not that, then what?"

"Old friend, what seems to be the matter?" Optimus asked carefully. Bee chirped and looked at the medic worriedly.

"The spot the portals appeared in...hm." The medic murmured. "The place Miko disappeared...is that right? Can't be."

"Ratchet." Arcee began and the older bot turned around troubled.

"The exact spot Miko disappeared has no coordinates anymore. I am sure the matter is still there, the land and terrain, but the coordinates are gone. Longitude and latitude blink out, the place has no coordinate. And with no coordinate for me to send the Land Bridge..." Ratchet trailed off bleakly.

"With no bridge Miko can't come back." Bulkhead whispered.


	7. Wherever Miko ended up

Miko had done a lot of stupid things during her lifetime, she had trapped herself in a shadow zone, "accidentally" let a bear out of its cage at a zoo back in Japan, possibly was the reason her 3rd grade teacher had to go to the hospital and get a leg cast, and was probably the reason the King of Paintball ran screaming if he saw her or any paintballs at all. But this! This topped it all. _Blind rage really doesn't_ _work for me_. Miko mused as she looked about her in shock. She definitely wasn't in the Sahara, unless this new big city had sprouted up overnight in the heat of the desert. Miko looked about her in shock and excitement. She definitely wasn't in Jasper anymore, and if she had to guess it wasn't 2011 wherever she was. Everything looked more advanced, more sophisticated. Miko felt herself get bumped by a hurrying passerby and turn to yell.

"Hey, watch where you're going buddy!" She shouted, then gasped. She had been bumped. She had been _touched_. Wherever she was, she wasn't in a shadow zone. She couldn't touch anything outside her plane of existence during her first trip to the shadow zone, but here, _here_ she was part of the plane completely, not out of it, in it! And if she could see, touch, hear, probably taste everything so could everyone else. Miko snapped her jaw shut and started walking. Towering building loomed up everywhere, and Miko looked about in awe and excitement. People hurried all around her, some chatting happily away and other simply hurrying. She turned to a woman walking beside her. "Excuse me, but what city am I in?"

"Why, Detroit silly! Now hurry along back to your mother, she must be worried." The woman replied smiling before continuing along. So, Detroit. Miko thought, pleased to have found something out. That's in America right? She thought, furrowing her brow in concentration. Yeah, it was somewhere. She decided, glad she at least was on the right continent. But she had been in the Sahara, that wasn't the right continent for Detroit. How did she get back to the U.S of A anyway? She wished one of her friends were here. She even wished Bulkhead was here, he was always there for her, pulling her out of trouble. He really was one of her best friends. Miko quickly pushed that thought out of her mind._ He doesn't like me, he never did. _She reminded herself sadly. She shook the hurt off and continued walking. Somehow she got to the end of the city, and turned around to start walking back. She stopped at an old car garage, wondering how she was going to get back or at least where she could spend the night. With a little hesitation, Miko started walking in the garage.

"Hello?" She called uncertainly. "Hello?" She repeated more forcefully. "Is anyone here?"

"One sec!" A voice finally yelled back. Miko breathed a sigh of relief. Now she could get some help hopefully, and at least find out more of wherever she was then 'Detroit silly!' by someone she had absolutely no idea about. A girl a few years younger than her walked out from a door with a wrench in one hand. Bright red hair was held up in high pigtails and she wore a yellow dress. An odd key was around her neck and a friendly smile decorated her face. Her eyes were blue, an odd electric blue that seemed to fit her perfectly. "Hi, I'm Sari." The girl grinned.

"Sorry for what?" Miko asked confused. "Sorry for not coming sooner or what?" The girl burst out laughing and dropped her wrench to hold her stomach as she dropped to the floor laughing.

"Like I don't hear that everyday! No, my name is Sari. S-A-R-I, Sari." The girl picked herself up and pushed her key under her dress and out of sight. "How can I help you?" Sari asked pleasantly.

"Well, I was kinda wondering where I am. I got kinda lost and ended up here somehow." Miko replied, explaining as vaguely as possible. I mean really, talking robots that can turn into vehicles? Who would believe that?

"Hm, well let's see. Welcome to Detroit! I guess that's the best way to start. This is my friends place, they're off doing who knows what. Bumblebee wouldn't let me come." Sari muttered poutingly.

"Bumblebee?" Miko repeated, and almost choked. _Impossible._ _It_ _has_ _to_ _be_ _another_ _Bumblebee_.

"Oh, he's my friend." Sari smiled. "We do everything together. Follow me, we don't want to stand out in the open, do we?" Sari asked and Miko followed her down a hallway. "Hungry? 'Cause I'm starving, I missed lunch because I was being held hostage by some dumb Decepticon. But Optimus came and saved me of course. Bumblebee pounded that Decepticon into the dirt!" Miko stopped moving, frozen in her tracks.

"The Autobots? Are here?" She managed to choke out.

"Yeah, why?" Sari asked walking into a kitchen.

"I got to get out of here." She whispered, and turned around.

"Sari! You here?" A voice called.

"Back here, Bee!" Sari hollered. Bumblebee walked into the hallway and Miko stared up at him dumbstruck. What was he doing here? He didn't come through the portal with me! Miko stared at his face carefully and started noticing something. This Bee didn't completely look like her Bee. This one looked a bit younger than hers, and his plates and metals weren't the same. This wasn't the Bumblebee she knew and disliked. Miko breathed a sigh of relief. "Bumblebee, this is um, well I don't know here name. What's your name?" Sari asked brightly.

"Miko." She replied in a relieved sigh.

"Oh cool name!" Bumblebee said.

"No one's got normal names around here Bee." Sari chuckled.

"Oh, you got that right." Bumblebee replied, rolling his optics with a smile. "Who names their sparkling Prowl?"

"My creator cared for me dearly." Another bot replied and a gold and silver bot in almost ninja-ish gear entered the hall. This wasn't a bot Miko knew, and gasping in delight she pulled out here phone to take a pic.

"Put that device away." The bot, Prowl, warned reaching to grab my cell.

"Hey leave her be Prowl!" Sari ordered, standing up for her new friend. "She's new, so don't intimidate her!" Miko started to laugh. She never got intimidated by an Autobot, she got intimidated by a Decepticon, and that was only when it was trying to kill her.

"Hm, unusual reaction for an earthing." Prowl mused, looking down at the new arrival with curiosity.

"He doesn't intimidate me Sari." Miko grinned.

"Oh good. Most people have a major freak when they meet my friends, 'Oh, they're so big' 'Oh their rockets are going to destroy us! Run!' "Oh-"

"I get it! I get it!" I laughed, and Sari smiled.

"Can she stay?" Sari pleaded to the latest arrival in the hall, an Autobot in red and blue. Like with Bee, this Optimus looked nothing like hers. Miko began to suspect she wasn't in her own dimension anymore.

"Has she any place to call her own?" This Optimus asked in reply. Sari "O'd" and turned to look at her new friend.

"Well? Well?" She asked eagerly.

"Can I stay?" Miko asked meekly, looking up at this new Optimus with wide eyes.

"Say yes, say yes!" Sari begged, jumping up and down. Optimus looked down at his charge with a weary sigh.

"Of course." He finally said.

"Yes!" Both girls screamed jumping up and down with excitement. They hugged each other and screamed with excitement.

"Thank you Optimus, you won't regret it." Sari told the bot with a smiling face. Optimus sighed again. Sari had told him that many times, and each time he had come to regret it. Hopefully, this time would be different.

Hopefully.


	8. Wonderful times these are

**Well, my friend said just saying I do not own Transformers does not count as a disclaimer so here I go. I own no part of Transformers Prime or Transformers Animated. Under the protection of I am writing a story using characters created by someone else and writing a story with the acknowledged belief that everyone knows I own no part of the series and am writing for fun. This story is simply for the enjoyment of myself and others who like and/or love the Transfomers series. Aren't friends great?**

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Time passed by. Not much, just a week or two, and Miko began to enjoy the much needed vacation.

Only one problem had popped up.

Not only was there an Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in this world, there was also a Ratchet and Bulkhead.

A _Bulkhead_.

But Miko quickly figured out her Bulk and this Bulk were two completely different bots. This one was more reserved, and listened to orders by the "Boss bot", which was the honorary title Optimus Prime had for being the leader. Having figured out she was in completely different company, her old spirits buoyed up and she was chattering nonstop.

"How much do you weigh? Have you ever punched a 'con in the face? How fast is your kicks? Can you count to 3 Gazillion? Why did you want to be a ninja? I bet you use a building as a demolition ground!" It's easily assumed the bots were quickly taken aback by their first assumptions of the girl. Now Miko and Sari quickly learned they were an unlikely duo, and had much, _much _in common. Tricks and teasing ran in their blood, and if you didn't give either what they wanted you would never hear the end of it and would have a racket of a shadow hounding them until they gave in. The two were sneaks, and loved playing games with Bumblebee. Even in this dimension Bumblebee was a video game addict, but quickly found out two game queens were more than he had bargained for. The two wheedled and cried, and quickly had the bots on their ropes, and no energon could pick them up fast enough to be knocked right back down again by the dynamic duo. It's safe to say Optimus regretted his decision to let Miko stay within the first week.

"Why?" Ratchet sighed, voicing the bots concerns they wouldn't make it to the end of the Earth month.

"Yeah Boss bot, this is way out of our league." Bulkhead rumbled, slipping down to lie on the floor.

"Oh, you Cybertronians! Let the girls have some fun!" Bumblebee reprimanded lightly. "Sari doesn't have many friends outside us and I think this is a great opportunity for her to be human! So we have to put up with some pranks and jokes, is Sari's happiness not worth that?" The bots nodded, this was good for their friend, but what surprised the group most was the fact that the young bot actually made sense.

So night fell on the garage, the moon finding two humans sneaking out and across the garage floor. One of the shadows giggled, and the other shushed her. Suddenly the lights switched on, and the two shadows now plainly seen as girls froze.

"And where are you going on this lovely night?" A friendly voice asked. The two turned around guiltily, and waited to face the music.

"Um, out?" Miko tried.

"Yeah, out." The younger girl repeated.

"Out where?" Ratchet asked, leaning on the steel enforced door frame.

"To a, um, a rock concert." Miko murmured, shuffling her foot back and forth.

"A rock concert?" Ratchet repeated, and Sari looked up at him with pleading eyes. "And you decided to sneak out in the middle of the night and not simply ask permission because?" He asked wearily.

"I kinda knew you wouldn't let us." Miko said with a nervous chuckle.

"You're darn tootin I'm not! Now repeat after me, 'I will not sneak out at night again'." Both girls shared a smile and put their arms behind their backs. After crossing their fingers they began in unison.

"I will not sneak out at night again."

"Good. Now get back to bed, please." Ratchet watched them walk back, then headed for his own room. The girls waited a few moments, then sneaked right back out. On one of Miko's trips outside the garage she'd come across a poster for a Battle of the Bands contest. After ripping it down and running back to her new home she'd shown Sari eagerly, and after a little persuasion the two agreed to go. It began at 11 pm, so the two knew the Autobots wouldn't let them go, so the two decided to sneak out. They'd have their rebellious teenage attitudes for a while anyway, or at least early preteen rebellion. And with Ratchet safely back in his room dreaming of whatever Ratchet's dream about the two were on their merry little way.

"This is going to be so totally awesome!" Miko grinned as they hit the line for Battle of the Bands.

"I'm nervous." Sari admitted, but she was smiling too. They were sorta excited, but when Ratchet woke up they'd be in so much trouble.

"Welcome to Battle of the Bands, enjoy the show." The ticket salesman sighed handing the two their tickets.

"Oh we will." Miko laughed and the two hurried inside. Music was blasting and guitar music and drum solos slammed in their ears the minute they entered the arena. People were screaming and singing with the bands and Miko pushed her way with Sari to find awesome seats. Sari covered her ears and winced.

"Uh, this is kinda loud." She began.

"It's supposed to be loud!" Miko laughed back. Sari looked hesitantly round herself, not exactly fitting in with the scene around her. But she focused on the music, and slowly dropped her hands from her ears. It wasn't that bad. The two ended up rocking out to the music and screaming lyrics out with the rest of the music lovers. When the concert was over, The Wild Callers were crowned absolute best and Miko and Sari walked out hoarse, hyped up on adrenaline and excitement, and crazy happy.

"That was the most awesome thing ever!" Miko exclaimed, hopping up and down energetically.

"It was so awesome." Sari agreed grinning like a maniac and the two let loose a scream of excitement. The two talked all the way back to the base but stopped just outside it.

Something was wrong. _Really _wrong.

And it had to have something to do with the big beam of green light shooting up from somewhere inside the garage.

"Oh my gosh!" Sari breathed wide eyed.

"Look!" Miko pointed horrified. Inside the beam and going up was the Autobots, yelling and telling us to run.

"Optimus! Bumblebee! Bulkhead! Ratchet! Prowl! Come back! Please come back!" Sari screamed desperately. The Autobots continued going up, and then the beam disappeared, and so did the Autobots.

"You totally did not tell me there were aliens here!" Miko gasped.

"There's not." Sari replied dumbstruck.

"Then what?" Miko asked looking up into the sky. As to answer their questions, a large warship lowered itself toward the ground and then blasted back up and disappeared into the clouds.

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no." Sari whispered. "This is all your fault!" She exploded at the teen beside her.

"Me? How is this my fault? I did not call any aliens, I would if I could I bet they would be totally sweet! But I did not call anyone to abduct the boys."

"You made me go to the concert!"

"Made you? You chose to come!"

"But this- this wouldn't have happened with me here!" Sari cried and fell to her knees and bawled. Miko looked up at the sky feeling alone and confused. If Bulk was here, her Bulk, he would have pummeled that thing out of the clouds. But he wasn't here. She, Miko Nakadai, was here.

"Hey." Miko whispered, crouching down and placing a hand on the younger girl's shoulders. "Hey, we'll get them back. We will." She promised, looking at the moon darkly. She would. Somehow, she would.


	9. Chapter 9

"OK, so I seriously doubt the guys were abducted by aliens." Miko began pacing the floor distractedly. The two had entered the base shaken up, and were even worse so after they saw the damage that had been done. If those Autobots had been abducted, they hadn't left without a fight. The whole base was wrecked. Table were turned over, chairs thrown across the room, papers scattered everywhere, and there were thousands of huge missing chunks of wall. The two were just quiet taking the disaster in. Sari wiped a stray tear out of her eye, then boldly said they needed a plan.

"My friends aren't going without a fight." She declared, and the two turned a table upside right and grabbed some chairs and papers. "We have to get them back." Sari told Miko with a fire in her eye.

"I went to this Alien Convention once, and everyone there totally believed aliens use white tractor beams, not green because green is so cliché." Miko thought aloud. "So we're not working with extra terrestrials. Which leaves the creepy MECH or Decepticons, and I doubt MECH is here so we're probably looking at those 'cons."

"Whose MECH?"

"It's not important. Besides, 'cons have spaceships." Miko added importantly.

"So, you're telling me we have to sneak aboard a Decepticon ship?" Sari asked dubiously.

"Yes."

"How are we supposed to do that!" Sari exploded. "We can't! We're to small, and they're kinda huge."

"Sari! Where is your sense of comradeship? Where is the Sari that could cream Bumblebee into the dust in any game? Where is-"

"That's all fun and games, this is life and death!"

"Well, duh." Miko huffed, putting her hands on her hips and staring at the red head with a look of 'How crazy do you think I am?'

"Then what are you planning?" Sari asked, looking at Miko suspiciously.

"I'm going to do what I do best, get in a lot of trouble." Miko grinned, and Sari wanted to groan. Miko ALWAYS got them in trouble, and in trouble they were apparently going to get.


	10. Part 1 of Miko's wonderful plan

Sari stood in the middle of a field, waiting.

And getting pretty bored from that.

If only they were normal. Sari mused. She'd have imaginary friends, Miko would be dating some boy back in Japan, she would be playing with people her own age _and _species, and Miko would understand wanting to see a Cybertronian brawl was something no ordinary girl enjoyed. Instead, we both would be doing our hair, painting our nails, and gossiping over cute boys.

But instead, we were extraordinarily, out of this world, absolutely NOT normal.

So here she was, standing out in the middle of an open field being Decepticon bait. Oh the joy. A week ago Sari had told Miko about the All Spark Key, and now she was regretting it. With Miko's understanding of the Key's power to draw any Decepticon in, Miko had planned a grand scheme, putting little Sari Sumdac in as 'con bait. Once more, oh the joy. So now she had to wait, just wait, until any and/or all Decepticons came. Miko was off somewhere, hopefully somewhere nearby, doing _something. _

And in most cases you did not want to know what.

This was probably that case.

Sari looked up again for the thousandth time, hoping for something to happen. And this time, it did.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A voice cackled, and Sari turned stunned to see a huge Decepticon towering over her. "And what is it that I feel? Mm, something delicious I do believe. Something quite, _quite_ powerful." The Decepticon circled the red head slowly, just loving seeing the girl squirm. "Do you want to hand it over? Or do we did to have a discussion?"

"Let-Let's talk." Sari stuttered out. "Where's my friends? I know you took them!"

"The Autobots have finally been captured? Wow, I was actually doubting Starscream. That fool couldn't have caught a single thing, are you sure human? The _Autobots_ were captured, by _Starscream_?"

"Someone took him, and only you Decepticons have enough power to catch my friends. And only you Dcepticons have a spaceship anyway." Sari explained.

"Hm, true, true." The Decepticon allowed, standing still and looking down at the human with something close to a smile on its face.

"Where are they?" Sari demanded.

"Me? How would I know?" The 'con asked surprised.

"But you-you're a Decepticon! You have to know!" Sari asked desperately.

"Kid, being in the Decepticon ranks doesn't mean you're privy to all knowledge. But bringing in you, and that All Spark Key, should put me in the loop now." The 'con reached down to pick up the shocked Earthling, and then froze, winced, then screamed. Sari shrieked as the Decepticon pitched forward and squeezed her eyes shut as they two slammed into the ground.

"So Sari, guess what I have!" Miko's voice rang out. Sari shoved her way out of the Decepticon's grip and came to watch Miko standing heroically on the 'con's back. In her hand was a wicked AK-47, something much bigger and much harsher than a traditional tazor, and as Sari watched shocked Miko was setting up a net to keep their guest tied up. "So do you think those 'cons will be mad we just 'con napped a Decepticon?" She asked grinning.

"_This_ was your plan?" Sari wanted to groan. So they 'con napped a Decepticon, big whoop. Sari had seen many Decepticons get abandoned in a fight, this would be the same. "Really?"

"Of course not, ye of little faith." Miko admonished grinning. "This was phase uno. Now onto phase B!"

"Oh help us." Sari groaned again. Miko pressed a button on one of her weapons, where did she find those things anyway? Sari wondered flabbergasted, and then the Decepticon screamed in pain.

"Wonderful circuits, they work with tazors too. Now 'con, you're going to tell me what I want to know, got that?" Miko demanded, her voice icy and a glare made to silence Megatron himself.

"I won't tell you squat." The 'con bit out.

"Aw, to bad. That wasn't what I wanted to hear." Miko said patiently, then pressed a button and smiled as the 'con screamed. "Want to try again?" Miko asked pleasantly, hopping off the creature's back and walking to stand in front of it.

"Bite me." The 'con retorted. Miko smiled, pressed a button, waited for the 'con to stop screaming, then asked again. "OK, OK!" It ground out.

"Thanks so much for your cooperation." Miko smiled with false sincerity. "Now, are the Autobots on board a Decepticon warship?"

"I don't know!" The 'con screamed.

"Oops! My finger slipped. Care to try again?"

"I don't know!" The Decepticon repeated.

"You don't know at all, or I don't know which ship?"

"At all!" Again, a scream. "I'm going to kill you human! I'll crush your bones and hear _you_ scream in pain!"

"Aw, it's a nice picture, but no thanks. Now, once more, with feeling."

"There's a rumor." The 'con muttered. "A new Decepticon project, they were supposed to be able to catch a Autobot." The 'con rushed everything out, and the two girls breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not a Autobot, all Autobots." Sari told it with a clenched fist.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Miko smiled.

"Let me go! I'll crush you! I'll bury you alive! I won't help you!" The Decepticon roared.

"Whoever said we needed your help? I'm the one with the power here, and it feels good too." Miko said, a scary smile creeping on her face. "You see, I don't like people who lie to me. And I especially don't like people who kidnap my friends."

"I didn't!" The 'con panicked.

"But your side did. You see each Centennial being chooses which side they're on. Good, or Bad. You my not so fine so not friend, you chose to be a Decepticon, which means you chose the dark side. So your team kidnapped my friends, or well, bot napped them, and you are a member, maybe not the most essential member, of the opposing team. _Your _team has my friends, and if you make me mad you will never make it back to your pathetic little base. Have you ever seen a Decepticon massacred? You start with the plates, you just rip them out, slash out the circuits within, you open up the spark chamber and then rip out an optic. With one pitiful optic left you watch as your spark is cut out and then are fed into a grinder. One optic left means you watch as your frail little body gets eaten up and then your gone. Now, this doesn't have to happen. I just want one little favor, and we will all go on our merry way never to meet again. Doesn't that sound nice? I think it does, oh Sari, do you think I'm scaring him?" Miko looked at the 'con with a sick smile, and then at Sari who was paler than ever. "So, do we all want to go on our merry way? 'Cause I would love that, but first I just need your cooperation. So my little Decepticon, what do you say?" Miko looked at him with eyes as dark as black holes, and a smirk the size of Texas. "Well?" Miko repeated growing impatient. "Do we need some more shock therapy sessions?"

"No!" He exclaimed.

"Aw, he found his voice! Isn't that great Sari!"

"Uh, sure."

"So, my steel covered friend, what do you say? A trip to the morgue? Or just help two little earthlings out?"

"I'll help, I'll help!"

"That's so sweet! So, here's what we're going to do." Sari didn't listen as Miko outlined her plan. They had 'con napped a _Decepticon_. They were going to get in so much trouble. But then again, she kinda knew this was going to happen. 'Cause really, they just weren't normal.


	11. Back at the base

Miko had been gone 2 weeks and 3 days.

And everyone in the base knew.

Because Bulkhead had been keeping track.

2 weeks 3 days.

"Two weeks, four days." Bulkhead murmured, checking off another day on his calender.

"Oh, Bulk. Just stop would you? She'll get back soon." Arcee sighed, trying to be encouraging but failing miserably.

"But what if she doesn't?" Bulkhead demanded, looking up from his calender to stare at the two wheeler desperately. "She has to come back!"

"Cool it, Bulk. Of course she will, we all know she will." Arcee tried to comfort again.

"But-"

"Miko will be returned to us." Optimus's calm voice broke in. "Of that I am certain. This is her personal journey, when she completes it it is most likely that she will be sent back to us."

"A journey?" Arcee asked confused.

"Many an Autobot has disappeared, and most return saying they were needed elsewhere. Wherever Miko has found herself, she is there because her assistance was required. She will return." Optimus said gently, then headed toward Ratchet. From the railing Jack and Raf traded looks. After a day of being missing, Miko's host parents had called the police. Police officers scoured the neighborhoods, checked in every place they could, but Miko was truly gone.

Of course, they didn't really look into the fact she might be trapped in a shadow zone.

After a week, the gang at the base seemed to realize there was no way Miko could be in a shadow zone. If she was, they would have been able to create a portal and get her out. But the place Miko's disappearance took place in was blocked from any portal's opening. Ratchet recalled tales of Autobots and Decepticons just plain disappearing and when they returned they told fantastic stories of other worlds or other places. Since it had become obvious after the next Decepticon battle that no one on board a Decepticon Warship had sent either portals, Optimus had simply decided Miko's disappearance was an act of Fate and when the young girl had completed whatever task Fate had given her she would return.

Hopefully.

So here we all were 2 weeks and 3 days later.

Correction, 2 weeks _4_ days later.

"If only I could create a portal." Ratchet's voice mused, looking at his computer thoughtfully. "Wait, hm. That could work. But no- wait!" Ratchet's voice exclaimed. "I think I could."


	12. Part 2 of Miko's wonderful plan

Blackfire was a Decepticon who had been made to do many things as a 3rd ranked Decepticon. He had done things for Commander Starscream he'd rather not talk about, and had caused the demise of a green planet. But this, _this_ was by far the most unusual and dirtiest thing he'd ever had to do.

"Just keep walking Blackie." The human with the shock tazor told him gently. "That's right, we're just your prisoners. Keep walking buddy." For fear of the tazor and the girl who promised an eminent death he did as he was told. The human had forced him aboard 2 warships so far, and promised him a painful demise if he tried something dumb. There were 3 ships in the new Decepticon project, and rumor had it that one of the ships had caught those Autobot goodie two shoe scum. That made him want to leap for joy, if a Decepticon wanted to leap for joy. No, no of course not. This was the 3rd and final ship, and Blackfire was getting antsy. The human with the weapons was looking a little to cozy with the tazor for comfort, and Blackfire quickened his pace. "Slow." She commanded. "Your in charge here, why would a prisoner transporter be running? We're two little humans, remember?" Blackfire slowed down at did what he was told. Prison holds were on the lowest deck, and the highly dangerous prisoners ( the Autobots) were held on the floor below that one. Blackfire wasn't sure how that worked, but he knew most prisoners on the deck below the lowest deck never came back up. Blackfire walked on. He walked down to the prison level, and with a sense of dread headed for the lower floor. All Decepticons knew where the prison hold was, but you had to be 3rd rank or above to know where the _other_ hold was. Blackfire cursed his luck. If anyone else had been caught, those humans would have no way to locate their friends, but they had caught him. Blackfire cursed his luck again.

"OK, here we go. Now, don't try any funny business." The other human, the one with the all powerful key, whispered. Blackfire walked on. The door to the lower deck had been camouflaged by an invisibility beam. Also a high security barrier. This door was specially designed so that not just anyone could enter, it was programmed to repel any party without a Decepticon in its mist. Blackfire was a Decepticon, so the door opened and the three entered. This holding cell was different from the normal one. Black covered the walls, shadows creeped everywhere, screams echoed against the walls, and Blackfire was glad to watch the humans cringe. "Walk." The one with red hair ordered. Blackfire complied. Even he was weirded out by everything, but he wouldn't let the humans know. He watched the humans stare at the prisoners with horror and shock covering their features. Many a prisoner was minus a limb or organ, and almost all were laying on the ground moaning in pain. He heard the two gasp in shock as they passed a bot hanging on the wall headless.

What happened down here, stayed down here.

"OK, Blackie, find our friends." The human with the tazor decided. He walked forward. Blackfire had been to this hold once before. It was when he had first joined the 3rd rank, almost like an initiation. It wasn't a pretty day. Blackfire crossed over to the farthest wall. A list of the hold's occupants stretched out before him:

**Name: Cell **

_Soundscream _ _1B_

_Hammerwave C3_

_Thomas Jett L5_

_Brightlight G7_

_Gini Langlight 4_

_Optimus Prime The Black Death_

_Ratchet The Black Death_

_Bumblebee The Black Death_

_Bulkhead The Black Death _

_Prowl The Black Death_

_Red Light K4_

_Speed Lightning M-16_

_Anamel Spear Charlie 5_

"Your friends are in The Black Death room." Blackfire whispered horrified.

"So? Let's go get them!" The girl with the tazor demanded eagerly.

"The Black Death is a room where bots are held for termination. You're friends...they might be already gone."

"No!" Sari whispered screamed.

"I am afraid so."

"If you're lieing to me." The human with pink hair warned.

"What is the use of lieing?" Blackfire whispered. The Death Room was a place no bot wanted ever be, and the 'cons who worked in The Death Room...they were never the same. "Human, must we go there?" He asked praying for her to say no. The Death Room was a place of horror, and death, and pure utter blackness.

"Get moving." Tazor girl ordered. Blackfire wanted to cower, but he was a Decepticon and they never quaked because of an enemy.

He walked.

The Black Death was a cell covered in cement and hidden from sigh. One door led both in and out, there was no window or access to light except one light bulb that turned on when the Death Bringer entered, and then turned off when the Death Bringer left. The Death Bringer, the Spark Snuffer, the Soul Taker. It was a horrible place. Blackfire reached out his hand, glad no 'con ever came down to this hold except to maim and pain so no one would see what he was about to do.

Set Autobots free.

The Ultimate Treason.

Blackfire opened the door. The little light bulb clicked on, but the humans wished it hadn't. The Autobots were lying on the floor motionless, energon spilled everywhere. Gashs cut across the Autobots bodies, pain in each bot's face.

"Bumblebee!" Sari cried. "Put me down! Put me down!" She ordered, and Blackfire lowered the two to the ground. Tazor girl kept closer to him, finger on the button.

"Oh scrap." He head Tazor Girl mutter horrified. This was disconcerting even to Blackfire who quickly looked away. Sari had run over to Bumblebee and started to cry. Her tears started just as quickly as they had stopped. Almost in a dream like state, the Decepticon and Tazor girl watched as Sari pulled out the All Spark Key. Blackfire stiffened.

"Don't go getting ideas." The girl below him warned, the pain of the tazor a simple reminder. The two watched Sari climb up on her friend and insert her key. A light enveloped the room, and then Bumblebee was fine.

"Sari? What are you doing here?" The bot asked confused, raising himself up.

"Bee!" Sari screamed happily and with a huge smile raced to heal the other four. Everyone got up slowly, and after seeing Blackfire went into a fighting stance.

"Hold it, Hold it!" He tried to say, but was quickly knocked over.

"Hey, Prowl, stop!" His Tazor girl called, and the bot on top of him stood up silently. "I've got him under control." She smiled, waving the tazor's button with a smile.

"That looks quite familiar. I believe I had one in my room." Prowl mused. Tazor girl smiled sheepishly looking at her toes.

"Did you have an AK-47 too?" The red head asked eagerly.

"I believe I did."

"Miko! You can't just take Prowl's weapons!" Sari exclaimed.

"Well sorry! Did you want to never see these guys again or what?" Miko huffed exasperated.

"But my weapons were much larger that the one in your hand, Autobot sized. How did you shrink them?"

"Miko! You better not have touched my shrink ray!" The oldest bot exclaimed. "I mean that!"

"It's like you bots would have rather stayed down here than get out!" Miko huffed.

"Miko!"

"Sorry." Miko sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Not to be rude." Blackfire began, looking at the tazor carefully. "But we might want to get out of here. Other Decepticons might come down at any minute."

"Quite right. Autobots, let's roll." Optimus's voice decided.

"Yes Boss bot." Everyone chorused, and Blackfire lead the way out. They passed all the cells quietly, and went back up to the normal prisoner hold.

"That place gave me the heebee jeebees." Bumblebee shuddered.

"I'm getting to old for this." Ratchet sighed. Blackfire led the way up, but stopped short.

"Halt, name, rank, and where are you transporting these prisoners to?" Another Decepticon barked. Blackfire stood up straight, standing at attention.

"Blackfire Jettkin, 3rd rank, sir. I am transporting these prisoners to Kronos. He wants to collect samples." Blackfire quickly replied. Kronos was considered a crazy scientist on board this ship, and many Decepticons simply shied away from him or even when his name was mentioned. Hopefully it did the trick this time.

"Hm, as you were." The 'con finally said and started walking past then pulled up short. "Hang on, Jettkin was it?"

"Yes sir."

"Why are the _Autobots_ OUT OF THE DEATH ROOM!"

"Run!" Tazor girl exclaimed. The Autobots quickly sprang to action, and knocked the 'con down.

But of course he had already pulled the alarm. "Run!" Tazor girl screamed again, and they all complied. But they were quickly surrounded by fighting Decepticons. Even Blackfire found himself fighting comrades because of Tazor girl. Sari let out a scream as she was thrown across the room, and Blackfire felt someone pull the remote away from tazor girl, deactivate it, and set him free. Payback time. He grinned, reaching for the evil little Tazor girl.

"Uh oh." She said, and started running. Throughout the commotion no one noticed a bright blue ball of light spread out and open a portal. No one noticed, and that is what turned the tide.


	13. Stupid

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Ratchet berated himself, whacking his head with a sigh. He was such an idiot! He couldn't send a portal to Miko's disappearance location, but he could try to create a replica portal to send someone to Miko's drop off location. But that wouldn't really work since Miko would be long gone and on the move by then. So after a nice stumping, thinking hour Raf spoke up, and should have spoken up sooner.

"Couldn't you use the portal to lock in on Miko's location? Don't you remember tagging her clothes because you were afraid you'd lose her through another portal since she always wanted to go watch a 'con fight?"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He **had** tagged Miko, for her own safety of course. He had sewn in a chip on one pant leg while she had been dozing at the base, and since she seemed to always wear that one outfit he had been able to track her. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Ratchet ran to his computer to imput the chip's coordinates. The screen fuzzed over as it accepted the request, and Ratchet wasn't sure where the portal would take them.

"Ratchet?" Optimus questioned.

"One more tiny adjustment." He mumured, pulling up a time activated portal. Once they were on the other side they would have 7 hours to locate and retrieve Miko, and hopefully put to right all the messes each bot and human knew Miko had caused.

They would also be able to explain Si Cron.


	14. Answers, well at least some of them

Miko looked up as Blackfire towered over her menacingly.

This was not good, not good at all.

"I've got a some words for you human." Blackfire smirked. "Some nice, _choice_ words. But I'm above name calling. For that you should be grateful, but I've got a lot of pain coming your way girlie." Miko gasped and started to run. Blackfire picked up some metal pipes and began raining them down on the Japanese, who screamed and made a sharp left. Blackfire tripped, swore, then turned to follow her. Miko dove through the fighting mess and avoided getting squashed. Splatted Miko was never good Miko. "Human!" Blackfire's voice laughed. Miko made a sharp right, cutting right across Blackfire's path. The one time she'd been awake during some science movie it had been about Great Whites off the southern tip of Africa. The beasts prey were seals, and scientists had discovered that the more experienced seals kept close to the sharks after they had first tried to catch them. The seals toyed with the sharks, making the beast turn in circles before tiring and dropping to the bottom. Now, sharks and 'cons weren't exactly the same, but the principle applied. Blackfire took a step, and Miko scurried through them to the other side. Blackfire turned, and Miko slipped back again. "Human!" He ordered.

"It's Miko!" She yelled up to it. "M-I-K-O. Got that? Miko!"

"Well, Miko." It sneered. "Now I know what to write on your headstone."

"_Pa-leese_." Miko snorted, bee lining across the room. Miko wasn't much of a domino person, but she knew how to set a thing in motion with a desired result.

She should know, that's what caused her detentions most of the time anyway.

A rope was attached to the wall, and high above them was a large crate. One tug, one fallen whack job.

"A little closer." She whispered, judging the distance carefully. Blackfire roared and lumbered toward her. "Just a bit more. Now!" She pulled the rope, the crate dropped with a rickety sound from the pulley, and Blackfire dropped like a stone. "Whose big bad girl on campus now?" She taunted, and turned to walk away. With her back turned she didn't see Blackfire throw the crate off, get up, and continue after her.

"Miko!" Someone yelled, and Miko turned to watch Bulkhead, her Bulkhead, backhand Blackfire across the room. "Miko, are you OK?" He asked carefully. Miko looked at him with relief. He had saved her, and he had saved her a billion jillion times before.

"Thanks." She whispered, with a happy sigh. Then she stiffened.

She remembered now.

And like that she was running away from the bot. He was so nice, but he could be so cruel too.

"Miko, wait! Let me explain!" She heard the bot call. She ran to another wall, with another rope. Really did Decepticons not think through anything? 'Cause sheesh, they left a lot of things hanging above their heads. Miko pulled, and a lot of 'cons fell down between her and Bulk. "Miko!" She heard him call. She ignored it. She ran to distract a 'con after Sari, then found herself standing between two Optimus's.

"What?" Sari's Optimus asked.

"Quite." Hers replied. They both looked down at her.

"I'll explain later!" She called up promising and was running again. She found she was good at distractions, and she easily led 'cons away from original targets. "Yo, metal head! Down here! Can't catch me! Na, na, na na, na!" And like that she was sprinting off.

"Human." It growled and followed after her. Prowl quickly knocked it off my trail.

"You, you pile of scrapes! Down here!" And she was off like a bullet.

"We gotta get out of here!" She heard Sari's Bumblebee scream. The Autobots agreed and merged to fight toward the exit. Optimus and Optimus fought back to back, Bumblebee and Bumblebee fought side by side, Ratchet and Ratchet were cutting their way through, Bulk and Bulkhead were plowing through, and Arcee and Prowl avoided each other like the plague. I guess they didn't like what they were in opposite worlds. Sari and I met in the midst of the bots to hurry with the gang.

"Miko!" She heard someone call, and Miko spun to see Raf and Jack running toward her.

"Yo!" She laughed, and spun back around to keep running. They all got off the ship as it exploded in mid air. Sari let loose a scream as the group fell towards the ground at blinding speeds. Miko watched Sari's Bumblebee grab the red head, her Bumblebee grab Raf, Arcee pulled Jack toward her, and Miko felt herself get grabbed by some bot.

"I got ya." Bulk's voice rumbled. Oh great. She wanted to sigh, but the familiar feeling of Bulk holding her again made her feel safe. She hadn't been on his shoulder in weeks, it felt nice.

The group slammed into the ground, the bots quickly alternating forms so they bounced on their tires. The group all skid to a halt, and the kids in vehicles jumped out to watch what was left of the ship burst into flames.

"So, who let the explosives?" Miko began.

"Miko, we have to tell you something." Jack said, running toward her with Raf in tow. "Remember what you recorded-"

"Miko, you were so awesome!" Sari broke in.

"I know, that was so totally sweet!" Miko grinned.

"You totally got some Decepticons, I was kinda just running." Sari smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, we're a team. You distract and I whack."

"Totally."

"Miko! We need to talk." Raf burst in.

"Raf! Where are your manners?" Miko upbraided. "Raf, this is Sari. S-A-R-I, not S-O-R-R-Y. And Sari this is my other friend Jack." Raf and Jack said hello wearily. "And I bet you can find the matches with the bots. We have an Optimus, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead too. But we have Arcee up there and they have a Prowl." Miko made the intros quickly and left the bots to mingle as she caught up with her earth friends. Apparently, Jack had been wanting to say something since they had gotten there, and Raf was just as antsy as Jack about whatever it was getting said. Miko flopped to the ground and pulled herself into a sitting positions, motioning the others to sit too. "OK, so what do you want to tell me?"

"What you recorded a few weeks ago-"

"I'd like to say a month ago." Miko interrupted. Jack gave her a patient look and Miko sighed before shutting up.

"What you recorded a _month_ ago, that wasn't everything."

"Explain." Miko ordered.

"The bots were continuing a tradition from Cybertron, it's called Si Cron." Raf answered for Jack.

"What's going on?" Sari asked confused.

"Don't worry, it's just something Miko needs to know." Jack told the younger girl gently.

"Si Cron's an old tradition used in the Cybertronian Military Ranks. It made partners say what they hated about each other and what they loved most. Basically, it was a way to keep troops from killing each other before they got to the lines. Technically, Bulkhead's _your_ partner, so what he said it had to be about you. Si Cron was a way to vent frustrations without bots killing each other, but it was reserved only for Cybertronians." Raf explained.

"That's why Optimus had to kick us out." Jack reminded her.

"We weren't supposed to hear anything, and only hearing half doesn't really get partners to work better. Remember? It made us work worse." Jack said.

"So, I heard half?" Miko asked puzzled.

"Yes." Jack breathed.

"The first half of Si Cron is the bad things. You know, like how people always want the bad things first?" Raf added.

"Yeah." Miko nodded.

"Well, we heard the bad things, and your phone died before we got to the good things." Jack told her, looking at the now shell shocked girl carefully. Even Raf and Sari knew she would be falling soon.

"I heard...half? So, Bulk, doesn't think I'm always making him do things? And that I always have to have my way?"

"Well, technically he does. That's what irritates him the most about you. That, and rock music. But you didn't hear the good things he said. What any of them said." Jack told her.

"So..." Miko trailed off, a puzzled look covering her face as she got lost in her thoughts. So he was just venting? She'd done that a thousand times before, and had a thousand people mad at her. Was this the same thing? He had said the bad things, she'd done that too, but he had also said good things. Like what?

"Miko?" Bulkhead's voice rumbled above her. Miko turned with confusion in her eyes and puzzlement on her face. "I also said you were the most loyal being I'd ever met. Well next to Bumblebee, but he's not important right now. You always make me try new things, you always make me feel happy and you definitely know how to roll with us Autobots." Miko looked up with teary eyes, then burst like a fountain. Sari patted the Japanese girl's back awkwardly as Miko cried into her hands.

"Sh, sh it's OK." Sari murmured comfortingly. Bulkhead looked down at Miko sadly. He had made her cry. He had made Miko _cry_.

"I'm sorry, it's just, it's just-" Then she started bawling. Sari looked up at the big bot and shrugged, Miko was Miko and her reactions never played in the normal range.

"Cry Miko, it'll make you feel better." Raf murmured gently. Miko paused mid sob.

"_Feel __**better**_? What are you talking about? I'm so relieved! You don't know how glad I am that this is over! Just thinking Bulk hated me could have ruined me. What were you thinking waiting 3 weeks before coming to find me? I could have jumped from the diving board by now! I could be 6 feet under in another dimension! How do you think my parents would have handled this? Oh no, how did the Hosties deal with this? Please don't tell me cops are all in my personal stuff! That's my _personal_ stuff for crying out loud!"

"I think she'll be OK." Jack told Bulk rolling his eyes with a smile on his face. Bulkhead breathed a sigh of relief. Well, at least she knew now. And at least she wasn't running away from him anymore. And just like that Miko was jumping up and running toward a cliff edge.

"Miko!" They yelled,but she was at the edge and leaning over.

"Blackfire, what do I owe the displeasure?" She asked politely. Holding on to the cliff's edge was shifty ole Blackfire hanging on for dear life.

"Help me Human!" He barked.

"You tried to kill me, remember?" Miko smiled down patiently, the effect being ruined by her tear stained face.

"An accident! A wire was crossed in my circuits!"

"Maybe, maybe not. Bulkhead!" She yelled, and her once best then not then again best friend lumbered into view. "Bulk, meet Blackfire. He tried to kill me, should I let him up?"

"Miko." Bulkhead sighed exasperated.

"Oh all right. Bulk, pull him up." The green Autobot heaved the 'con off the cliff side just as Miko asked. "So, what do you want?" She demanded once the 'con was in front of her.

"I-I- Sucker!" Blackfire exclaimed, jumping up and flying into the sky. Miko watched him drift away.

"Bye!" She called sweetly. "So, what's next?" She smiled at all the bots around her, happy things were headed back to the way it used to be. Or well, hopefully, at least. This was her, and trouble seemed to be her middle name, so whatever came next was definitely going to be interesting.

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**So far so good! Just to let you know I'm going on vacation so don't worry about checking for something new til next week.**

**Peace, Love, and what not, have a great week!**


	15. Another Jump

For Miko Nakadia, everything was almost perfect. Bulk didn't hate her, actually none of the bots did, she and Sari had rescued this world's bots, and in less than 7 hours she would be back in her own world.

She didn't really know what she was going to tell her Host Parents though.

She had climbed up on Bulk's shoulder shortly after her little revelation and had chatted away while the other bots, hers and Sari's, talked about the perplexing case of inter dimensional travel.

But most importantly, they talked about how Miko had swapped dimensions.

But that was much to boring to do right now, so while the bots talked the kids chatted and laughed and played games. And since the bots weren't aging anytime soon, the kids ended up building a fire and falling asleep under the stars.

Now remember, Miko said everything was _almost_ perfect.

She was bored, and staring up at the stars wasn't cutting it.

Miko sighed, and looked out over the cliff edge. She wasn't sure how long they had been sleeping or staring at the stars, but it had been some time. And some time being bored wasn't Miko's favorite thing to do. Even some lecture from a has been metal rocker was better than this. Staring out over the cliff edge she saw a burst of blue, and that burst of blue grow larger. Miko began to grin, and very carefully and quietly pulled herself into a crouch. She was absolutely, totally certain that it hadn't been 7 hours, and with nobody or thing coming out she knew it was for someone to go through.

Miko stood up.

She looked about her carefully, Jack was stirring, Raf was out like a light, and Sari was mumbling something about Bee. Miko cast a quick glance at all the bots, and then took off.

"She's running!" Jack's voice called sleepily. Miko gave a quick wave and then jumped through. Really, how much trouble was she going to get in anyway?

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Bulkhead watched Miko jump through another portal mouth agape and shock in his optics. Really? After all the trouble they had gone through to get her back she was already running off _again_.

"You got to be kidding me." Arcee muttered. "What does she think she's doing?"

"She doesn't think." Jack sighed standing up. Bumblebee beeped off something, and with Raf rolled over and rubbed his eyes as he yawned.

"We gotta wait Bumblebee. We don't have the land bridge, so we're going to have to wait. Besides, we don't know where she went."

"Does someone want to explain where all these portals are coming from?" Ratchet asked.

"You're guess is as good as mine. By what you've been telling us, neither Decepticon nor Autobot have been creating portals. Are you sure a rouge Cybertronian hasn't been doing it?" The other Optimus, the little red head's one, asked. Ratchet shook his head.

"No, I've been checking. The portal just appears, it has no originator location. No Cybertronian has been sending either portals." Ratchet sighed, and an hour later Jack, Raf and the gang said good bye to their other dimension counterparts. The minute they landed back at their base Ratchet was at his computer, the other bots around him, and Jack and Raf up on the balcony, leaning carefully to watch.

"Well? What can you tell us?" Optimus prodded gently.

"I-I have no idea. The portal back there...it went and sent Miko somewhere...but I can't tell where. This portal has a cloaking device, I can't tell where Miko went."

Up on the balcony, Jack sighed and banged his head to his arms. Miko really just could never give them a brake, could she?

"Well, she has to come back, right?" Raf's little voice asked hesitantly


	16. Portal Hopping

Miko jumped. She wasn't really sure why, she just wanted to. The portal engulfed her, and then she was spit out. She was staring up at a bot 'con fight, but it wasn't any Transformer she knew. These seemed older, and their colors were definitely fading.

"Optimus!" One of them yelled and Miko gasped as a huge transformer foot loomed down on her. She covered her head uselessly, but instead felt herself sinking like quick sand. She looked down quickly to see a blue portal swallowing her just as the Cybertronian's foot slammed down where she once stood. The portal opened and spit her out again. Again she was staring up at a battle, but these were wilder than any Cybertronian she had ever seen. Much more primitive, and it sorta scared her.

"You're going down Predacon!" One roared.

"In your dreams Maximal!" The other retorted. _Who was Maximal? Or Predacon? _She wondered confused.

"All you Predacon scum are going to be eradicated, you got that?" The first yelled, slamming into the Predacon. _So those are the breeds. _Miko nodded. _Like Autobot or Decepticon. A_ sword was tossed and came soaring at Miko who stared at her doom horrified.

But only for a moment.

Swirling right in front of her doom was another portal, and as the sword came slashing into her she was swept away before her inevitable demise. She stepped out into a clearing where a group of bots and 'cons glaring at each other from their sides. Miko could just tell mortal enemies when she saw them, it was just like with Bulk and Breakdown. Another portal appeared beside her, and she hopped through, wondering what was next. She found herself out in the recesses of space, luckily in a spacesuit. A huge 'con, cause really it had to be a 'con, floated with a dark arrogance in front of a group of Autobots, because honestly the good guys always had to square off against the bad guys.

"Unicron!" A bot called.

"You tiny, little, insignificant _ant._" The huge 'con sneered. Miko felt herself floating into another portal, and suddenly was in a whole other base. This one was in a mountain, that Miko was sure about because of all the rock walls, and a huge Cybertronian was standing above three humans. A boy about Jack's age, one about Raf's age, and one girl about her age.

"We didn't mean to Optimus, you know we'd never risk exposing your existence!" The girl called up.

"I know Lori, but you have to realize what you are doing. One little accident and this will all be gone, we will be gone." Miko watched another portal open across the room from her and she quickly scuttled and crawled and ran to it. Miko jumped through, then found herself back in the clearing with Sari. It was lighter out, time had passed apparently during her portal hopping.

"Hey Sari!" She laughed waving.

"Miko? We were so worried!" The red head cried running toward her, but Miko felt another portal open behind her and knew she had to get going.

"Bye, Sari! Bye!" She cried back and stepped backwards into the newest portal.

"Bye Miko!" She heard her friend's voice call back. Miko stood in the blue portal waiting for the next destination but was surprised when the the portal didn't immediately spit her out. She looked into the blue confused, and opened her mouth to speak.

"This is the in between." A voice whispered, cutting her off.

"So?" She demanded.

"This is the place between destinations. It is also known as limbo."

"So...what? I'm never getting out?" Sari asked hesitantly, the horror of never seeing Bulk or Jack or Raf or Arcee or Bumblebee or Ratchet or Optimus or even her Host Parents sank into her skin, chilling her to the bone.

"I never said that." The voice chuckled. It was neither male nor female, sweet or sour, it gave no indication of race or even species. It just was.

"The what?" Miko snapped.

"I need to speak to you." The voice replied simply. Miko waited, but the voice seemed to be in no hurry.

"Well?" Miko finally demanded.

"You must know of the others." The voice finally spoke.

"Others? The other what?" Miko asked. The voice laughed again.

"Oh, you know. The other Transformers, the Autobots and Decepticons, and even the small race of Maximals and Predacons. The humans that have taken to the aliens, you met Sari, and you saw Lori, Bud, and Colby. There are others, but you need to know what there is. The others, those like you, like your Cybertronian friends."

"Why?" Miko spoke suspiciously.

"The story needs to be kept alive. There are so many things that have been forgotten, I must remember. And so must you. Someone needs to remember, these things can't be forgotten Miko."

"So why do _I _have to remember?" Miko demanded, hands on her hips and attitude in her eyes. The voice gave a small laugh.

"Would you have rather continue on believing only your group of Autobots and Decepticons existed? Or to have learned of Sari and her gang? To see all the others? Would you rather have been ignorant of the truth? Besides, someone from each realm needs to know they're not alone. In cases of immense trouble and dire situations, someone needs to know they can find help among their own. So I pass on what I need you to know."

"So, all this...?"

"So you would know." The voice replied lightly. "Now, I'm going to kick you out of limbo in five seconds so ta-ta for now!"

"Wha-" Just like that Miko was thrown from the portal and onto the familiar floor of the Autobot base in Jasper, Nevada. The lights were off, and not seeing Ratchet by his computer made Miko know it was night time. "Never trust a stinkin' portal! They're so- ahh!" Miko muttered grunting, pushing herself off her knees. "My Host Parents are so going to kill me, not that I really care what they think but then my real parents are going to kill me and that I kinda care about but- oh, oh well." Miko sighed and looked around her at the dark base. Did Autobots sleep? She wasn't really sure. But at least she was home! Home sweet home! "I'm home!" She screamed, twirling around with her arms open wide. "Home, home, home! Oh how I've missed you!"

"What's going on in here?" A gruff voice muttered and Ratchet entered the room, turning the flood lights on.

"Oh, hey Ratchet, how's it going?" She asked pleasently.

"Miko? Miko! How did you-"

"So, can you, like, take me home? I kinda think my Host Parents are flipping right now."

"Think? They are 'flipping' as you call it!" Ratchet exploded.

"Chill, I got it totally under control. I'll just tell them I had some Japanese retreat thing, a Japanese retreat to excuse yourself from the rest of the population to go and cleanse your soul and put yourself into the zin zone. It's totally believable right?"

"Oh, Miko."


	17. And that is that

For a small town like Jasper, Nevada, people don't really go missing. There was that case back in 1959, but he was a nutcase always going missing so he doesn't count.

Miko was technically the first missing person's case, not that she really believed she'd gone missing.

Having gone on vacation through a lot of dimensions, Miko didn't really feel lost. She felt excited, adventure waiting around the corner. Of course, everyone else in Jasper didn't feel that way. Host Parents kinda freak out when their exchange student goes missing, and the police don't really like it when some Japanese exchange student wrecks their record of 0 people missing in Jasper, Nevada. And of course all the neighbors holding silent vigils don't like knowing their vigils were wasted because of some Japanese retreat tradition.

But that didn't really faze the girl who made the town hopping mad. She was glad to be back, and just as excited to watch her next 'con fight. She jabbered as only a Miko can, and of course pulled Jack and Raf into every ounce of trouble she could get into.

Honestly, when is Miko _not_ getting into trouble?

She was sent back to school the next day where she had about 5 makeup quizzes and 2 tests and a truck load of homework, apparently teachers don't like worrying over missing students, go figure! And so life returned to normal, well just as normal as life can get for little ole Miko Nakadai. She was still jumping up and down and running around, but she was still inching toward any open portal or land bridge, because really, Miko not trying to have fun (Or get into trouble) would just be plain weird.

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_**And that is that.**_

_**0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0) The End 0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0)0**_


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